Kyocera acquiring Soraa spin-off SLD Laser

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Semiconductor Today

November 12, 2020

Kyocera Corp of Kyoto, Japan (which manufactures fine ceramic components) has agreed to acquire SLD Laser of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA (formerly Soraa Laser Diode Inc), which plans to begin operating as a Kyocera group company upon approval of regulatory authorities regarding national anti-trust and investment regulations.

Soraa Laser was spun off in 2013 from Soraa Inc of Fremont, CA, USA — a developer of solid-state lighting technology built on ‘GaN on GaN’ (gallium nitride on gallium nitride) substrates — and was co-founded by Dr Shuji Nakamura (the 2014 Nobel Laureate in Physics), Dr Steve Denbaars, Dr James Raring and Dr Paul Rudy.

With 169 staff (as of 31 August) and facilities in both Santa Barbara and Fremont, CA, SLD Laser develops, manufactures and markets high-efficiency, high-luminance GaN laser-based products for automotive & mobility, specialty lighting, consumer, and industrial applications. The firm’s laser light sources have safety certifications from both ANSI/UL (American National Standards Institute/Underwriters Laboratories Inc) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission). SLD Laser is also ISO 9001 certified and automotive compliant to IATF 16949.

Kyocera says that it targets synergies by integrating SLD Laser’s GaN expertise with its own production technologies and R&D capabilities in fine ceramic-related businesses.